The biggest news of course was the three-team trade
that sent Choo, Tony Sipp, Jason Donald and Lars Anderson out of the
organization with Trevor Bauer, Drew Stubbs, Bryan Shaw and Matt Albers heading
to Cleveland. Learning about the trade only after it was completed, my first
thought was to wonder what else the Indians gave up. I assumed that the reports
were inaccurate, as I’d have been happy if the Indians were able to acquire
Bauer for Choo straight up. The fact that they added a talented defender with
potential at the plate in Stubbs was pure gravy. It’s nearly impossible to look
at this trade as it stands today as anything but a win for the Indians. They
were able to take an asset that they were clearly not going to be in control of
beyond 2013 (Choo) and flip it for 9 years’ worth of control of two talented
players, one of which is a young pitcher with top of the rotation potential. A
young pitcher under club control with top of the rotation potential just
happened to be the #1 item on every rational Indians fan’s shopping list this
offseason, so the fact that Antonetti was able to check that off without
dealing his most valuable asset (Asdrubal) has to be considered a major coup.
The deal was almost universally regarded as a big win for the Indians in the
media, something you rarely see these days. Ben
Lindbergh of Baseball Prospectus broke down the deal for all three teams, and
had no hesitation in considering the Indians the big winner:

This isn’t Colon for Lee, Phillips, and Sizemore, but it might be
one of the best swaps the Indians—who have a somewhat spotty recent trade
record—have made since. It’s rare that I have no reservations about pronouncing
a trade an unqualified win for one team—there’s so much info we’re missing
about most transactions that I get twitchy just typing that—but this is one of
those times. Cleveland just made the kind of move that should help shorten the
dry spell between competitive Indians teams.

This all begs the question as to why exactly the
Diamondbacks were willing to part with the #3 pick in the 2011 draft, a draft
that was universally lauded as one of the more loaded in recent memory. Why
would Arizona give up 6 years of club control over their organizational pitcher
of the year in 2012? The 21-year old Bauer has already made his major league
debut, going 1-2 in his 4 starts in the desert last year with 17 K, 13 BB and
11 ER allowed in 16 1/3 IP. Those numbers aren’t pretty, but when you look at
his overall minor league line (13-4 with a 3.00 ERA, 200 K and 73 BB in 156 IP)
and also consider that he strained his groin in his first major league start
and tried to pitch through it, the brief MLB struggles can be overlooked. But
Bauer’s problems with the big league club in Arizona went beyond his poor
showing on the mound. Bauer has been thrown under the bus by his former
teammates and coaches going back to last season, where he was criticized about
everything from wearing his headphones to warm up to throwing too much
long-toss on game days to shaking off his catcher too often. Bauer was labeled
as a malcontent, someone who didn’t fit it with his teammates for one reason or
another and was thus doomed to failure in the Diamondbacks clubhouse. Arizona
seemed downright eager to rid themselves of their talented young righty, and
the last time an organization seemed a little too eager to dump a talented
pitcher the Indians ended up with Ubaldo Jimenez. Arizona manager Kirk Gibson
soured on Bauer early on in the process, calling him out publicly last March
during spring training less than a year after Bauer was drafted into the
organization. Could Bauer really be that difficult of a personality that he
managed to alienate an entire organization in less than a year?

Obviously, I’ve not spent time in the Arizona
Diamondbacks locker room. I’ve seen Trevor Bauer pitch a couple of times on TV
and I follow him on twitter. It seems that much of the trouble Bauer ran into
stems from locking horns with the veterans in the clubhouse, and I’m guessing
that much of that comes from his dealings with catcher Miguel Montero. Bauer
famously shook off Montero on the first pitch of his professional career, and
proceeded to repeat that process a number of times throughout the game. Montero
didn’t like that and voiced his dislike to Bauer and the rest of the team, and
things seemed to run downhill from there. So while I’m far from an expert on
the inner workings of the Arizona clubhouse, I do have a significant amount of
experience as a catcher when it comes to stubborn pitchers who have their own
way of doing things. And I can speak from that experience when I say that
Montero shares the blame in this situation, and probably is more responsible
for the friction than Bauer. Bauer is known as a very cerebral guy, someone who
has a very good idea about what he wants to do on the mound and how he wants to
do it. It’s on Montero, the veteran catcher, to sit with Bauer and formulate
a game plan, not just go out and call the pitches he sees fit to call and
expect the rookie to fall in line. Bauer has ten (10!) pitches that he can
throw, including a number that he more or less invented himself. If Bauer feels
like he’s got a hitter set up for his inverted-gyroball-screwball-knuckler or
whatever, he should have a chance to throw it. If the pitch gets hammered over
the leftfield fence or sails to the backstop, then it’s time for Montero and
Bauer to sit down and talk about scrapping the IGSK in favor of the more
traditional curveball. But for Montero to just go out and say “listen Meat,
throw what I call when I call it and we’ll all go home happy” is incredibly
arrogant and obstinate. Even if Montero is calling the right pitch in the right
situation, it’s important for Bauer to understand why that is the right pitch
in the right situation, and that’s a discussion best had in the clubhouse while
breaking down video. It’s not a conversation suited for the mound in the middle
of a game, and it is certainly not a conversation that Montero should be having
with members of the Arizona media.

The pitcher-catcher relationship is a delicate one
that can take entire seasons to develop, and for Montero to assume that he has
Bauer’s repertoire and psyche all figured out before Bauer throws a major
league pitch is simply not realistic. Now, if this was the middle of Bauer’s 2nd
season and he was still continually clashing with his catcher, I’d say there’s
a more serious problem at work. But until proven otherwise, I’m going to go out
on a limb and hold the veteran catcher responsible for his actions, because if
there’s one guy in this situation with the experience to know better, it’s
Montero. Some lessons are harder to learn than others. If Bauer goes out and
ignores the scouting report on a particular hitter and gets lit up, I bet he’ll
be listening to his catcher the next time around. Being 21 and talented (for
those young enough to remember) is usually accompanied by a feeling of
invincibility, and sometimes that feeling isn’t shaken until the player is
proven to be a mere mortal. Nothing I’m hearing out of Bauer’s brief tenure in
Arizona screams “malcontent” to me. What I hear suggests that he was a 21-year
old rookie with a couple of personality quirks in a veteran clubhouse. Until
proven otherwise, I’m going to assume that he can not only fit in but thrive in
Cleveland, and all it will take is some good coaching and some patience from
his teammates. I’m all-in on Trevor Bauer, a guy who immediately becomes the #2
prospect in the Indians organization and the most talented pitcher in
Cleveland. But it must be a chilly day in Hell, because I can’t believe I’m
sitting here defending a pitcher who shakes off his catcher, but here we are.

The second player of note that the Indians acquired
in the deal is centerfielder Drew Stubbs from Cincinnati. Stubbs is a 28-year
old former 1st round pick who has been up and down with the bat in
his 3+ year major league career, but is universally lauded for his glove in CF.
In Stubbs’ first full major league season back in 2010, he hit .255/.329/.444
with 22 HR and 30 SB, and looked like he had “future star” written all over
him. But the 105 OPS+ he put up that season represents his career high, as he
regressed to a 86 OPS+ in 2011 and then down to just a 61 OPS+ last year. He’s
striking out more, walking less and hitting fewer home runs. Stubbs baserunning
and defense helps make him a less than useless player, but less than useless is
hardly the benchmark we would like set for centerfield at the corner of
Carnegie and Ontario. At the very least, Stubbs will play a more than capable
centerfield, allowing leadoff hitter Michael Brantley to slide over to LF where
his plus range will help make up for his below-average arm, and the Indians
suddenly have two above-average outfielders roaming the grass in Progressive
field. There’s still hope for Stubbs’ bat, as his BABIP of .290 last year was
more than 30 points lower than his current career mark of .323. There’s still a
lot of swing and miss in his game, but his underlying raw power offers an
opportunity for a bounceback season if he can put the bat on the ball with a
little more consistency. Even if his BABIP just progresses back to his career
average he’ll be better than last year, and if he can be just average with the
bat, his defense and baserunning will help make him a solid addition to the
club. Adding Stubbs in addition to Bauer in the Choo deal really makes the
trade a home run for Chris Antonetti.

So this all begs the question…are the Indians done
trading their veterans? Are Chris Perez, Asdrubal Cabrera and company safe for
at least one more season? The market for Perez seems somewhat less than
enthusiastic, but Cabrera should still have a number of suitors if he’s put on
the market. To that end, I’m
again going to reference Diamondbacks beat writer Nick Piecoro who penned an
article “rationalizing” the Bauer trade. Piecoro feels like
giving up on Bauer was a difficult and unfortunate decision, but when looking
around at the shortstop landscape the Diamondbacks had virtually no choice. The
talented SS’s around the league are either locked up with their respective
teams or would be too expensive in an open market, so trading for a guy like
Gregorious was the only option available to Arizona. Even if the Indians end up
signing Nick Swisher, they’re still not a good bet to make the playoffs. If
someone comes along with a “Godfather” offer for Asdrubal, I still think the
Indians should take it. They were reportedly asking for more for Asdrubal than
for Choo, a demand that makes perfect sense in terms of club control and
positional scarcity, so I see absolutely no reason to back down from that
bargaining stance. If the right offer isn’t on the table, there’s no hurry to
move him. But if a team comes along offering multiple elite prospects who are
close to big league ready, especially if at least one of those prospects is a
starting pitcher, I think Antonetti needs to be ready to pull the trigger on
another deal. That’s saying nothing about Chris Perez, who should be out of
town on the first thing moving as soon as a remotely viable offer is put on the
table. So are the Indians done dealing? Maybe, but if so it won’t be for lack
of trying.

For those who didn’t notice, the Rule 5 Draft took
place back on December 6. The Indians selected a position player, but lost a
pair of arms as well. With the 5th pick in the draft, the Indians
selected 1B Chris McGuiness from the Texas Rangers. McGuiness will turn 25 in
April and hit .268/.366/.474 with 23 HR and 77 RBI for AA Frisco last season.
He went on to tear up the Arizona Fall League, hitting .283/.370/.467 with 4 HR
and 27 RBI en route to the offseason league’s MVP award. I’d be lying if I told
you that I’d ever seen him swing a bat, so I’m going entirely off of scouting
reports from others here. The overall book on him is that he has a good eye at
the plate and at least gap power, but it’s unlikely that he’ll hit enough to be
an everyday 1B in the major leagues. Then again, Casey Kotchman doesn’t hit
enough to be an everyday 1B in the major leagues, and yet that’s who the
Indians trotted out most of the time in 2012. McGuiness has a career minor
league OPS of .814, and will join Matt LaPorta, Yan Gomes and Mike McDade in
the fight for at bats at DH and 1B behind starter Mark Reynolds. He hits from
the left side, does a nice job getting on base and has a little pop, but if
McGuiness is on the 25-man roster for the entire season it’s because something
went wrong at the big league level for the Indians in 2013.

The two players the Indians lost are both pitchers,
one a starter and one a reliever. Hector Rondon was the 2nd overall
pick by the Chicago Cubs, and the Orioles tabbed southpaw starter T.J.
McFarland with the 12th selection. Rondon of course was one of the
top prospects in the Indians organization back in 2009, when the 21-year old
was coming off of a solid season spent between AA Akron and AAA Columbus. The
wheels fell off for Rondon after that season though, as he went down early in
2010 with a torn ligament requiring Tommy John surgery, and followed that up
with a fractured elbow that conspired to limit him to just 10 innings of work
in the past two seasons. Rondon has been mounting a comeback as a reliever
though, and has worked 20 innings in the Venezuelan Winter League this
offseason, posting a 4.50 ERA while striking out 17 and walking 6. His fastball
velocity is back up in the low-90’s, and he’s getting a feel for his changeup
again. I always thought that without his curveball taking a significant step
forward that he’d end up in the bullpen eventually, so the move to the pen may
have been inevitable regardless of the injury issues. The Cubs can start him
off in a long relief role to help build up his arm strength, and if he succeeds
there then they can start getting him into more high leverage situations. I can’t
see Rondon ever starting at this point in his career, but he can still be an
effective reliever and stands a better than average chance of remaining on the
Cubs 25-man roster for the entire season.

In addition to Rondon, the Indians had lefthanded
starter T.J. McFarland selected in the Rule 5 Draft. McFarland split his 2012
season between Akron and Columbus, going a combined 16-8 with a 4.03 ERA, 96 K
and 45 BB in 163 IP. As those raw numbers would indicate, McFarland is more of
a command and control guy than a big strikeout pitcher. He keeps the ball on
the ground and in the ballpark, and is a good athlete with a clean, easily
repeatable delivery. He projects as an innings-eating #4 or #5 at the major
league level, and while he may get knocked around a little initially I think
there’s a good chance he can stick in the show for all of 2013. The former 4th
round pick won’t turn 24 until June, and he’s the guy that I predicted that the
Indians would lose in the Rule 5 Draft this year. The talent evaluators in the
organization clearly saw McFarland’s potential as lower than that of fellow
southpaw T.J. House, as House was added to the 40-man over McFarland despite
being younger than McFarland and having pitched 2012 primarily in AA Akron.
Time will tell if the Indians made the right decision, as McFarland and House
will inevitably be compared against one another throughout the rest of their
respective careers.

Late Friday night, the Indians announced that they
had signed lefthanded pitcher Scott Kazmir to a minor league deal. Kazmir is
currently pitching in the Puerto Rican Winter League, and in 5 starts has gone
0-2 with a 4.37 ERA, 27 K and just 8 BB in 22 2/3 IP. I love the K/BB ratio,
and while I’m not exactly penciling Kazmir into a spot in the rotation just yet
there’s really no downside here. It’s a minor league deal for very little
money, so if Kazmir is able to recapture any of the magic that helped him lead
the league in strikeouts back in 2007, great. If not, no big deal. Kazmir has
thrown just 1 2/3 inning since 2010, and if he does make the club it’s probably
as a matchup lefty out of the bullpen. With both Tony Sipp and Raffy Perez
having departed the North Shore, there just happens to be an opening for a
southpaw out of the bullpen. Ideally, the talented Nick Hagadone seizes the job
out of spring training and never looks back. But if not, Kazmir has a shot not
only to make the team but to contribute in a key role. Not bad for a minor
league signing in December.

The last personnel move we’re going to discuss today
is the free agent acquisition of 1B Mark Reynolds. Reynolds is famous for two
things; prodigious power and insanely high strikeout totals. He led the NL in
K’s for three straight seasons while with the Diamondbacks (over 200 K’s each
time) and then came over to the junior circuit in 2011 and again led the league
with 196 punchouts. He’s also averaged nearly 33 bombs from the right side of
the plate over the last 5 seasons, bringing some badly-needed righthanded power
to the middle of the Indians lineup. Fans that look at Reynolds and see nothing
more than a whiff machine are shortsighted; he walks quite a bit in addition to
the strikeouts, and the lowest OPS+ he’s ever posted in a full season is 96.
Even back in 2010 when Reynolds failed to bat even .200, he still posted a .320
OBP and .433 SLG by virtue of his 83 BB and 32 HR. Would I prefer fewer
strikeouts? Sure, who wouldn’t? But if Reynolds steps in and goes for a
.225/.335/.480 line with 30 HR, I’m going to be pretty happy with how Antonetti
spent $6 million of Larry Dolan’s dollars this offseason. He’s an average to
slightly below average fielder at one of the least important defensive
positions on the field, and I have no trouble seeing him as a net upgrade from
Casey Kotchman no matter how many times he strikes out.

Everyone around here likes to look back to the glory
days of Indians history, and Anthony Castrovice is no different. Castro
decided to reach back to the grand old year of 1988,
when the 6th-place Indians went 78-84 the year before “Major League”
was released. Not exactly the glory days you were thinking of? Castro’s
entertaining trip down memory lane was prompted by the fact that the ’88 club
included no fewer than five present-day managers in the dugout, including
current Tribe skipper Terry Francona (the team’s primary DH). Rangers manager
Ron Washington played in 69 games as a utility infielder, Charlie Manuel of the
Phillies was the hitting coach, Boston’s John Farrell won 14 games in the
rotation and current Padres skipper Buddy Black pitched out of both the
rotation and the bullpen. For those of you foolishly harboring any doubt
regarding Castrovice’s childhood love of the Tribe, I implore you to read the
1,400 words poured out from a special place in his heart on that 1988 team. If
you’re anything like me and names like Cory Snyder, Tom Candiotti, Greg
Swindell, Brook Jacoby and Pat Tabler put a smile on your face, you’ll enjoy
the piece on one of the classic Indians teams of the 1980’s. I actually have a
long and somewhat entertaining story about my irrational dislike for Ron
Washington that
stems from the August 11, 1988 contest, but that’s a story
best left for another day. Anyway, prepare to lose about 4 hrs on
Baseball-Reference.com looking up players and stats from those awful, horrible,
bungling but somehow memorable 1980’s Indians squads. So with that time waster
out there, apologize to your bosses and significant others for me and enjoy the
rest of your Lazy Sunday.